Set To Default
by Vorox1027
Summary: He was a machine. He was built to serve. His masters forgot one thing; he still has a mind. He still can decide his fate. He is human. Rated T for violence and (hopefully not that much) disturbing imagery. Mostly for the squeamish...
1. An Introduction

_**Author's Note**_

_**Interesting story...**_

_**I actually started writing this story while at school and been kind of obsessing over it for quite some time. Don't know why, though. I really have way too much time on my hands...**_

_**However, this wasn't a...lets say...BIONICLE story. It was just about a human turned into a golem, then another dude that wanted to set him free. This will differ greatly from my original writing.**_

_**Not that you'll see the original any time soon...**_

_**Anyway...**_

_**I really hope that everyone thinks it's good. Hopefully.**_

_**This will be interesting.**_

_**-Vorox1027**_

* * *

Gathered friends...listen again to our legend, of the Bionicle.

In the time, before time, the Toa and Glatorian of Bara Magna have successfully cleared the land of the evil makuta and his brethren. All who served and obeyed him were free of his tyranny.

However, like any other tragic story, they would not stay down long.

A resistance group, known as the Independent Brotherhood of Makuta (IBM), struck without warning. Another war broke out, and this time the brotherhood triumphed. The Toa and Glatorian were out maned, out gunned.

They were forced to surrender. The makuta then set up vicious rules and regulations, claiming to 'punish' anyone who defied any of these rules.

Alas, another resistance group formed. The now re-banded Order of Mata Nui strives to fix the wrong that the Makuta re-created.

During times of war, every sane being gets desperate. Namely, the Makuta were desperate.

They went to a foreign planet, far from their own, to gather the much needed servitude they couldn't acquire from their terrified brothers.

Now, our story begins with the climax of the conflict on Bara Magna, and a being simply named e725...


	2. Set To Default: 0

Welcome to the IBM Interface...

Analysis of subject I.D...

Analyzing...

Analyzing...

Analyzing...

I.D. Analysis complete...

Identified Subject #E725...

Preparing repair Interface...

Prepping...

Prepping...

Prepping...

Preparation complete...

Analyzing possible injuries...

Processing...

Processing...

Processing...

Processing complete...

No injuries detected...

Analyzing possible circuitry malfunction...

Processing...

Processing...

Processing...

Processing complete...

No malfunctions detected...

Proceeding to mind-wipe...

Processing...

Processing...

Processing...

ERROR...

ERROR...

ERROR DETECTED...

Unknown third party interference...

Mind-wipe process abort...

Preventing crash...

Processing...

Processing...

Processing...

Crash prevented...

All systems set to default...

Interface set-up complete...

Initiating wake-up sequence...

3...

2...

1...


	3. Set To Default: 1

It was so quiet. It was the kind of silence that if you dropped a pin, you could hear it from across a room.

He could see nothing. The room - or chamber, rather - was an absolute pitch - black. No light seemed to peep through at all. But then, he heard a swish.

And another,

And another,

One more time,

Before he realized that the chamber was filled with water. His senses suddenly tingled, and he could feel the soft current of the liquid. It was almost so...peaceful. Before long, the water in the chamber started to grow smaller and smaller. He could feel what remained of the water travel along the lengths of his body, draining into the ground without a trace.

He could feel his limbs then. He couldn't see them, of course, but he could feel them. In a single instance, a bright white light filled his eyes, nearly making him blind. He went from seeing nothing in black to seeing nothing in white. His eyes ached with a pain unmatched by anything he had ever felt.

His eyes then grew accustomed to the sudden burst of light. Then, he could see what was before him. The doors of the chamber were open.

He stared into a plain, white room with a strange machine on the ceiling. A small table was in the center of the room, just under the machine. It would have seemed innocuous if it wasn't for the red liquid that splattered the middle, alongside it dripping onto the tiles below the table. It was so vibrant - it stood out from the rest of the room.

Cautiously, he stepped out of the chamber with one foot. He felt it touch the cool tiles in front of him. He moved his hand to steady himself on the left door of the chamber, but recoiled at what he saw.

His hand was monstrous. It was made out of metal, with plastic linings around the joints. He counted only four digits, the tip of each one looking razor - sharp. Below his hand was a bloated piece of flesh on his wrist bone, surrounded by a small metal cage. He looked at his feet. They, too, were bloated at the ankles. A thin, fibrous cloth surrounded both bloated areas. He saw only four digits on his foot, and he turned both of them to see a large scar where his big toe should be. The length of the scar was covered by the cloth.

He hadn't realized that he was at the center of the room, already out of the chamber. He was standing over the table and feeling the smooth wood. He looked to his right and saw a door. He hesitantly walked over to it and reached for the handle.

_"I'm sorry, but we can't have you do that just yet..."_

He nearly fell over, only to grab the side of the table and get his hands in the red liquid. It felt...un - naturally thick. He backed off slowly.

The intercom started again. _"Um, I hope we didn't startle you too badly, but we can't have you leave until you are deemed safe to yourself."_

His eyes surveyed the room, searching for the source of the noise. His eyes rested on a small device that was above the chamber he was in.

_"Now, before we can let you out of here to get started with testing,"_ the intercom blared, making the small device shake, _"we need to run some tests in order to see if you_ _are functioning correctly. Walk around the room for a little bit, would you?"_

He stared at the device, wondering who those beings were. However, he wanted to get out of the strange room, so he walked around the table a few times. Several minutes - or however long it was - passed before the intercom blared again. _"Good,"_ it said, _"now, we shall see if you react or respond to any of the following noises..."_

After a small time of quiet, a train horn went off. He just stood there, unaware of what was going on. Another noise, this time it was an angry ranting. Again, he just stood perfectly still. Then, the final noise was a young being crying. He continued to stand in that spot, not moving an inch.

_ "Good,"_ the intercom said, _"we are now going to place a mirror inside the room. Please do not be alarmed."_

Suddenly, a large amount of tiles next to him started to shift and convulse, flipping around and revealing a one - way mirror. He slowly turned his head...and may have regretted doing so.

He had the same hand and foot features, but the rest of his body stood out. His legs were completely machine from the knee up, with a plate on each knee cap and a piston which was silently pumping inside the metal shield of his thigh.

His arm was the same way. His upper arm was just a bunch of wires with a steel cover, along with barbed wire surrounding it. His elbow was just a ball and socket joint, also surrounded by wire. His body, however, was what disturbed him the most.

He had a large circular machine in the center of his chest, connected to two pipes that went inside his metal shoulders and out his back. A plate was on his mid-abdomen, covering about a third of the bottom of the machine on his chest. The rest of his abdomen was...well...gone. Just a small plate on top of a large mechanism, which was bolted and had a sphere-like object at the point his abdomen ended and his hips took place.

He turned around. He had a large steel back, bolted onto his actual back and with tubes running along its surface.

He was horrified.

But his eyes...

Those eyes...

They were bloodshot. A monocle-like glass plate covered each eye, lined with two tubes that connected to the side of his head. His head was bird-like, with a round noggin, smooth features, and a beak-like protrusion. On the back of his head was yet another machine with tubes. These were connected to the side of his head, like the previous.

He could do nothing but stare and run his hand across his head. He wish he could scream at the top of his lungs, but he couldn't. He wish that he could close his eyes and stop looking, but he couldn't. He wish he would stop thinking about how hideous he looked, but he could not.

_"Okay, that was better than I expected..." _the intercom blared, _"we shall open the door for you know."_

He heard a click, and turned to see the door was now open.

He hesitated, then walked through.

* * *

A hallway loomed ahead of him. He stepped out and looked back at the doorway. On top of it, lay a plaque.

'TEST ROOM #e725, DO NOT DISTURB'

e725...

Sounded familiar...

But regardless, he continued across the hallway. He walked for what seemed like forever before another door loomed ahead. It was white, like the last.

_"Don't go into that one," _the intercom blared, _"go to the one next to it."_

He looked at the door that the intercom described. The plaque above it said 'TEST ROOM #1'

The one before it said 'SURFACE EXIT'.

* * *

He entered the room. Inside of it, was a strange looking device in the middle of the room on a table. It resembled a sort of U shape and was bent at a strange angle.

_"Now, you see the weapon on the table..."_

Weapon...

_"pick it up and shoot the assigned targets that appear in the room." _the intercom blared.

He walked over to the table and moved his hand to grab the 'weapon'. It felt strange in his hands, and he felt as if he shouldn't be gripping it as hard as he currently was, or even carry such an object.

He heard several clicks. He turned and saw several circles, covered entirely in red. Not knowing exactly what to do, he picked up the weapon and tried to aim it in his hands. He felt a...trigger...of sorts, and pointed at a red circle. Then, he fired.

The glass shattered into a million pieces from the force of the sonic wave the weapon created as he pointed it at the other three red circles. One by one, all of them were shattered and fell to the floor, covering the white tiles with red fragments.

His eyes glazed over the red fragments on the floor. He then looked at the weapon and wondered how he knew how to use such a horrible machine.

_"Good, test subject!" _the intercom blared, _"you shall now continue on to the next test chamber. Good work."_

A click, and yet another door opened. He turned, still clutching the gun, and walked into the open doorway.

The rest of the test were...strange to him. The second test involved him placing boxes onto buttons, which didn't seem too difficult. The intercom seemed surprised that he completed the test so quickly, so maybe it was supposed to be hard.

The third involved his eyes. He was asked to identify different objects like circles, triangles, and squares. When he answered correctly for a decagon, there was another surprised announcement from the intercom.

He had a sneaking suspicion something was up, but the fourth test got in the way of his thinking. He had to escape the room with a sparse amount of objects, and wasn't allowed to use his weapon.

This one took some time. He stared at the objects and wondered how they could fit together to help him escape. The door in the room had a keyhole, like the others. Maybe if he could shape the objects into a key of some sort...

He tried using all of the objects, individually at first, but he gradually began to combine them. Whenever he felt like it was correct, he pushed it into the keyhole.

It took a long time of trial-and-error before he got it right and the door clicked open. Again, another, startled announcement on the intercom.

_"By makuta..." _it blared, _"we've got it. We've finally got it! Subject, continue on to the exit. I've been looking forward to this day..."_

At the end of the hall that the door he unlocked was near, another door clicked open. The plaque above it said 'BATTLEMENTS'.

He walked towards it...

_"Hey! What happened to the lights?" _the intercom blared. He looked around confused, when the lights in the room suddenly went out.

He stood completely still. He was not afraid of the dark, but he didn't feel safe in it either. He just stood there waiting for something to happen, unlike any other sane being.

Then, he heard footsteps. Long, metallic footsteps.

_"Uh...sorry test subject..." _the intercom blared, _"we're just experiencing some lighting difficulty..."_

The footsteps got closer.

_"Just stay put until the lights turn back on..."_

He could feel the vibrations of the feet. He then saw a light. It was dim at first, but got brighter as the footsteps got closer. Soon, another being stood in front of him.

The figure shined in the light, looking like a machine. He wore what looked like a mask, which one eye was emitting the light he saw. The light got into his eyes, and he cowered in response.

"Hello there, pal," the being said, "mind following me for a while?"

He was silent. He didn't have anything els to do, so he nodded.

"Good," the strange being said, "follow me to the exit."

The being started to move. He followed him, using the light as his guide. A quick trip through the previous test chambers brought them back to the door labeled 'SURFACE EXIT'.

"Before we go," the being said, "promise me one thing: never, ever, ever, try to kill or hurt someone without logic or reason. Never do that, or I swear I'll bring you to your knees."

He was silent.

"Got it pal?" the being said.

He kept a stature pose. Then, he nodded.

* * *

_**Fifty cyber bucks to whoever guesses what the test subject is thinking the entire time you read it :)**_

_**I'm stealthy like that.**_

_**-Vorox1027**_


	4. Set To Default: 2

The two progressed slowly up the stairs to the surface. The subject stood as still as a statue while the being stood there, holding a large weapon, as well as the weapon the subject shot the targets with.

"As a safety precaution," the being said said, "just so you can uphold your promise." The subject hasn't minded. He hated it more than could think he could hate something. He could never imagine how such a little thing caused so much destruction.

The stairs reached an end. There was one more door.

"we're almost to the surface," the being said, "come on, follow the light on my mask."

The hallway they entered was dark, probably the power outage. He followed the being's light through the extremely claustrophobic corridors until they reached a locked door.

The bieng tried to work his way through the lock. He looked up and saw the plaque above it: "STORAGE." The door clicked open.

"Finally, got it to open," the being said, "come on, get inside."

He followed the being inside. He stopped when the being opened up a box. Inside the box was some wires, which the being hooked up to a small device he held in his bag. He hooked up the devices and flipped the switch in the room.

The lights went on. The subject shielded his eyes from the brightness while the being walked over to some cabinets.

The being busted the lock on the cabinets and looked around the areas. The subject's eyes glared around the room and saw a machine on the wall. The being looked over in the same direction and turned to him.

"That's a protodermis feeder," the being said, "your body runs on stuff in order to function." The being walked over to it and pushed a button on the machine. Several gears were churning and some clear glass needles popped out from the lower part of the machine.

"Go ahead and charge up," the being said, "you need to insert the needles into your proto-feeder." He started making motions with his index finger.

It took him a little bit to realize that the being was pointing to the area between his legs. He looked at that area and saw that was the feeder was.

"What, was there something important there? Nevermind, just get charged up." The being continued to scavenge the cabinets.

He steadily approached the machine. He could almost feel the needles as they entered his feeder. He searched the machine and saw a green button that said 'BEGIN'. He pushed it.

He saw the machine begin churning again, but this time he heard slushing, like liquid was inside. He saw the clear glass needles fill with murky greyish-brown liquid as the needles injected it into his system.

For a monent, he felt disoriented. The room suddenly started to spin, he felt dizzy and nauseous at the same time, and he felt his eyes hurt again. He placed his hand on the wall in order to steady himself.

He felt grass on his feet. He looked down and saw brown grass that swayed in a seady breeze. He backed away and wondered what the hell was going on.

He heard something.

Something familiar.

Something...

...

* * *

"You done yet? It's been a while..."

He snapped out of the...whatever the heck just happened. He saw that the glass needles were gone, and the machine was turned off. He turned to see the being standing there next to him, the bag he carried full.

"Are you okay?" he said, "I figured that something like this would happen, but not this severe-what were you seeing?"

He wish he could say. He wish that his beak-like face could talk, so that he could feel the comfort of human speech. Alas, he coldn't.

"Nevermind, sorry." The being turned to exit the room when they both suddenly started to hear thundering alarms. The makuta's warning beacons.

"We've been spotted!" the being said. His comment was followed by thundering footsteps that got closer and closer to the duo.

"Grunts! Quick, follow me!" the being yelled, running deeper into the storage room. He felt more alive than ever after that proto-injection, so he managed to catch up with the being with no trouble. Toether, they ran from the persuing makuta.

The door, which the being locked after entering the room, was abruptly blasted off. The makuta grunts filled the storage room, but it was too late. The subject and the being were too far gone. All that was left was the empty cabinets and the uncharged proto-injector.

"They got away, Dakra!" one of the grunts said.

"Find them!" the makuta at the front, Dakra, said. "We cannot let him get away with the subject! Send in support to the surface!"

"Yes, sire!" the grunt said. He pulled out a small device and barked commands into it, telling the surface forces to mobilize around the entire building.

Little did they know, the being was more clever than that.

* * *

"Quick, into the cave systems!" the being yelled. He opened up the hatch on the floor and dived in, while he followed.

The two slowly decended into the cave system with a ladder. The being then said, "Now, if we are to make this work, we must know our names. I know your-technical-name, e725..."

e725...

"My name is Irriade," the being continued, "Toa of radiation."

e725 nodded in understanding.

"Good," Irriade said, "now, I've been thinking it over, and mabey I should take you back to my camp, so we can plan on what to do next."

e725 was confused. Plan? For what? What was there to plan for? He then thought about the 'makuta grunts', and decided not to think about the subject any further.

They both got to the bottom of the caves, one by one. Irriade activated his kanohi Ruru.

"Follow me," he said. e725 focused his eyes on the bright light coming from his mask. The caves were dark and dim, but the glow of Irriade's mask lit the way. That, however, did no solve the uncomfortable feeling of the rough and dry rocks rubbing on e725's bare feet.

"You okay back there?" Irriade said after a while, turning the glow of his mask onto e725. "Shake your head if you are."

e725 cringed and nodded, hoping Irriade would remove the paining light.

"Good," he said. He drew his mask away from him and continued walking. e725 felt uncomfortable, but he followed him again, hoping that they would get out of the dark caves soon.

* * *

Several hours passed. At one point, Irriade stopped and reached into his bag. He pulled out two objects-a box covered in paper and a small glass syringe with murky grey liquid. He handed the syringe to e725.

"Protodermis," Irriade explained, "so you don't get worn out." He then ripped open the box and pulled out a small piece of dehydrated meat.

e725 stared at the syringe he had just given him. He was feeling a little worn out, so he decided it would be best to use it. He put the syringe into one of the holes in his proto feeder and injected the fluid.

Although it wasn't as intense as last time, e725 still felt a slight dizziness and head ache. He sat there, not moving, as he simply endured the pain he was feeling.

"Man, this is good..." Irriade not-so-quietly whispered to himself, biting into some more jerky. He turned to e725, still being a statue.

"you'll get through it, e725, just try to endure it," he said, "it's only temporary."

e725 was listening and ignoring him at the same time. He was sitting there, observing a small scarab beetle that was passing by. He had forgotten that the pain had passed him by already.

He snapped out of it eventually. He turned his head to Irriade. He smiled.

"Glad you got through it," he said,"now, let's get out of here."

He got up and e725 followed the light of his flashlight for another few minutes.

* * *

Soon, they reached a ladder that led to a small metal trap door that would lead to the surface. Irriade climbed up the ladder and attempted to push it open. Unfortunately, even with a dose of his radiation, the trap door would not budge. He climbed down in frustration.

"Damn it..." he muttered. He turned to e725. "Mind trying to move that door up there?" He asked. "You might be able to with those arms of yours."

e725 looked at his right arm. It was still that same metal as when he saw it back in that room. He felt...uneasy.

He walked to the ladder. He grabbed a rung, then pulled himself up. He placed his foot on another rung, and went through the process of climbing the ladder as if he'd never climbed one in his life.

e725 reached the trap door. He let go of one of the rungs and managed to move it towards the metal door. He felt the cool of the steel and iron on his artificial hands. He steadily pushed the door, inching it off of the ceiling one inch at a time, one second after the other.

Light began to fill the cave systems. The trap door was finally off. e725 looked at Irriade's shocked expression.

"Well...um...I never epected you to do...well...THAT..."

e725 looked up at the trapdoor and saw that it wasn't off, like he originaly thought. Instead, it was bent; all of it. He hadn't moved it at all, he just bent the heavy metal door into two, leaving one empty space where the half of it used to be. The entire door was bent in an awkward acute angle.

"I guess we can get out of here now, what do you say?" Irriade said. He got onto the ladder with e725.

e725 just climbed the final rungs needed to get onto the glowing light of the surface. All the while of going through the hole, he wondered why those who made him gave him such strength.

* * *

_**Now, some trivia...**_

_**1. The protodermis, in my original writing, was actually glucose. Also, in the story, his proto-injector replaced his...private parts. Just in case you didn't catch it...**_

_**2. The 'serial name' e725 actually derives from the character Equality 7-2521 from Ayn Rand's Anthem. Kinda represents him: A being with his own mind.**_

_**Ah...I have so much to learn...**_

_**-vorox1027**_


End file.
